Dr. Guillaume Chansin

Market and Technology Trends for AR/VR Displays

The last two years have been disappointing for AR/VR. Could 2024 mark a turning point? Apple has now entered the race with the Vision Pro and Samsung is expected to launch a headset later this year in collaboration with Google.

AR/VR is still one of the fastest growing markets for displays, but there is not a single technology that can address all the requirements. For VR and Mixed Reality, there has been a clear trend to increase pixel density. Apple and a few other brands have adopted OLED-on-Silicon (a.k.a. Micro OLED), but devices based on advanced LCD remain much more affordable without sacrificing too much on performance or image quality. For smart glasses, the combination of diffractive waveguides with full color MicroLED is seen by many as the Holy Grail. However, MicroLED is still an emerging technology with complex manufacturing challenges.

This presentation will summarize key findings from DSCC's latest report on MicroLED and AR/VR displays. I will discuss the strength of each technology and will show updated forecasts for both VR and see-through AR.

Guillaume was previously Senior Product Line Manager at Plessey Semiconductors where he managed customer projects integrating microLED displays into AR/VR headsets. He led market research activities to position Plessey’s new product lines and understand the competitive landscape. In this role he worked closely with the Business Development and Marketing teams to promote the benefits of monolithic GaN-on-Si for microdisplays.

He first started working in display technology when he joined Plastic Logic (now FlexEnable) as an engineer to develop the first flexible e-paper display. That’s when he attended Display Week for the first time and became fascinated by this industry. After Plastic Logic, he became an analyst for IDTechEx and covered the progress of OLED and quantum dot displays, as well as the emerging sensors and haptics integrated in flat panels. He spoke at several international conference on printed and flexible electronics and regularly travelled to the USA, Japan, Korea and France to visit suppliers. In 2018 he started Irimitech, and independent consultancy on emerging materials and devices.

Guillaume has a Master’s degree in Physics Engineering from INSA Toulouse and a PhD from Imperial College London. His PhD thesis was on single-molecule optical sensing with solid-state nanopores.